The Livingstones
by mari681
Summary: It is easy for a couple to fall in love, but it is also just as easy for the two to fall out of love... What would have happened if Lilly and James fell out of love? Will be a "Harry grew up in America" story. Cliched, and AU, and OOC, and likely to be rather fluffy. No pairings in this first one, other than harmless school-boy crushes. A change from my slash-centric stories.
1. Chapter 1

It is easy for a couple to fall in love, but it is also just as easy for the two to fall out of love...

All who knew them saw the Potters' as a happily married couple, in both the wizarding and muggle worlds. However, nothing could have been further from the truth. In the privacy of their home, away from prying eyes, the two fought over everything and anything. These fights ranged from calm, civilized discussions, to angry, violent arguments that laid waste to the house on numerous occasions.

One would have thought that these fights would have stopped with the birth of their first child, Harry James Potter, but they didn't. If anything, the fights became more numerous and more violent.

Things came to a head one evening when James, an auror, came home from work late one night, a bit drunk.

Lilly stood up from the rocking chair as her husband came stumbling out of the floo. "James! Where in Merlins name have you been? Harry was asking for you. You know I hate lying to him!"

James growled under his breath, going over to their drank cabinet, and pouring himself a shotglass of fire-whiskey. "Oh, shut it. You natter on about 'Harry this', and 'Harry that' all the time. Do you even care about me any more?" he flinched as the glass in his hands burst into tiny shards, but immediately pulled his wand, whirling around to face Lilly. "Bloody Hell! Why..."

"Why did I do that?" asked the red-head, emerald eyes glinting, "To get your attention. I refuse to keep our... no, my... son in these conditions any longer. He does not deserve to grow up hearing his parents quarrel all the time. He does not deserve to have a father who is gone every single night."

"Are you going to run to that slytherin git? I knew you still loved him." James sneered at his wife. "I hate to tell you sweetie, but you and I are legally bonded. If you try, I'll have Harry taken away from you."

Lillys' eyes gleamed with hatred and disgust. "No, I am leaving the magical world behind. You will never see me, or Harry, again. Good-bye, James. Oblivisci!"

Without one backwards glance that fateful night, Lilly Potter took her two-year-old son and left England, with only the little money her parents' estate had left her, and no skills useful in the muggle world. Needless to say, even in America, her money soon ran out. With no other options, and too proud to ask her very distant family for help, she left her son on the doorstep of an orphanage, and walked away.

Harry, a sweet and even-tempered boy, was soon adopted by an younger couple, whose only son had been killed by a rare genetic disorder at only three years old .

Mrs. Sarah Livingstone looked entreatingly up at her husband as they drove past an old brick building with a sign proclaiming it to be the Boston Home for Unwanted Boys. "Oh, John. Can we just take a look? I mean... we have the room and the money, and... it has been two years."

Her husband, Jonathan Livingstone sighed, but pulled over to park on the street. "Yes, Sarah. If you wish to look, we will."

Once inside, they were both disgusted at the squalid state of the building. Mice droppings littered the floor, along with what seemed to be human vomit. The walls were covered in crayon and marker drawings of stick figures. The matron herself, sitting at a rickety desk reading what appeared to be a dimestore romance novel haltingly, didn't notice them come in, and was wearing clothes covered in stains.

At a single look from his wife, Jonathan sighed once more, but went up to the desk. "Ahem?" as the matron looked up, he continued. "We would like to adopt a boy, preferably today."

The matron sneered. "Well, go on up, and pick one of the little brats. What are you waiting for?"

The Livingstones were suitably angry. No child deserved to live that way. However, they only had room for one, for all that they were an old, rich Boston family. With the name, though, came connections. Connections that they would use to close the orphanage down, once they had chosen their new son.

Before they even stepped on the creaky stairs, a black-haired boy came running down and flung himself into the arms of Sarah. Looking up at her with sad emerald eyes, he quietly asked "Please take me? Mum left."

Sarah ran her hand through the hair of the small boy, gently rocking him back and forth in her arms. Looking to her husband, she saw his nod. "Shhh. Yes, you shall come and be our son. What is your name, little one?"

"I is Harry Potter. I aint little, I am five." the boy answered, smiling at her.

Sarah laughed, hiding her worry. Her son hadn't been this small even when he died at three, and he was little for his age. "Well, you are smart, Harry. Come along, and we will go home."

In the car, Sarah held Harry on her lap, just stroking his hair. However, as they reached the gates of their manor a bit outside of Boston, she was going to prepare him for its' size. "Harry? You may be surprised at the size of your new home. Don't be scared."

Harry turned and looked at her quizzically. "Is it as big as my old home? We had housy elfs. Do you have any?"

Sarah ignored the notion of elfs as a childish fancy. Perhaps the boy had lived in a mouse-infested house. "No, Harry. we do have a housekeeper. Kinla is like family, though."

A/N: I have seen this happen many times. Not to the extent of the child being put in an orphanage, but... fights are terrible on children. And as for Lilly being too proud to ask her sister for help? She knew what her sister was like. I do have another few chapters of this, but I want to see the response before posting anymore.


	2. Worlds Collide

A/N: Here we go, gigantic timeskip.

Oh, and I could use a beta for this and my other stories. To bounce ideas off of mainly, and to give my stories an extra going-over to catch any mistakes I might leave in. PM me/review if interested.

* * *

It was nearly six years later when a tawny brown owl landed in the solar of the Livingstone household, choosing to rest on the same chaise lounge Harry was reading a book in. Harry didn't notice the owl until it pecked him right on the ear. "Ow!" he cried, rubbing the injured appendage.

"Harry? What happened?" asked Sarah as she entered the solar. She stopped at the sight of the owl. "Are you playing another prank?"

Harry sighed. "No, mom. This owl just appeared out of thin air." he held up the book. "I was even doing my homework."

Sarah ventured closer to the owl, noticing that it carried an envelope in its' claws. "Can you get that letter? It may have an explanation."

The boy sighed, but managed to get the letter. He did gasp when he saw the address on it, printed in emerald green ink.

_Mr. Harry Potter_

_Heirs' Suite_

_Livingstone Manor_

"Mom? They know my birth name. And which bedroom I have. Do you think it is safe to open?"

"I..." she paused, blinking, before answering. "No. Wait till your father gets' home. Then we'll decide. "

* * *

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL_

_of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

* * *

"Well, it seems like a simple prank, though a rather expensive one..." mused Jonathan Livingstone. "I sincerely doubt there is any substance to it, love."

Sarah sighed, biting her lip. "If it is what it seems to be, then it is true, I'm afraid. My cousin in England once got one of these letters, and then disappeared. I did see her every summer for six or eight years after that, and attended her wedding, but then my family got word that her husband, and supposedly her, died in a freak accident, and that there were no bodies." Sarah sat down on the bed. "I... Harry reminds me so much of her. His eyes are the exact same shade, and... she married a man named Potter."

"Oh, Sarah. How can magic be real? We are living in the 20th century. Magic has repeatedly been disproven with science." he sighed, sitting beside his wife. "It would be an amazing coincidence if our Harry was your cousins' son. But how in the world would have he came to be over here?"

"I don't know, Jon. I just don't know."

* * *

In the end, the Livingstones decided to pass it off as a joke. They shooed the owl away, much to Harrys' disappointment, and simply burned the letter, to Sarah's' slight discomfort.

It was two days later, before they got a hint... well, more than a hint... that it was true, and not simply poppycock.

* * *

It happened when Harry and Sarah were coming home from school shopping. A... rather colorfully dressed older man was standing by the front door, knocking enthusiastically on it. Sarah stopped the car for a second, before turning into the driveway. "Harry, stay in the car, love. I'll see what he wants."

Sarah stepped out of the car, and walked up to the door, and the man. "Hello? Who are you, may I ask?"

The man turned to her, a twinkle in his blue eyes, and fingers combing through his long white beard.. "Mrs. Livingstone, I presume? I am Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, of Hogwarts. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

Sarah gasped, a memory coming to her. Her cousins' wedding had been... very traditional, but the officiant had stuck out like a sore thumb, for instead of more traditional black garb, he had worn long pink robes. "You! You were at Lillys' wedding, weren't you?"

Dumbledore blinked. "Why, yes, I was. Who are you?"

She shook her head, and motioned for Harry to come join her. "Sarah Livingstone, nee Potter. Lilly was my cousin. Her father and mine were twins." As Harry came up beside her, she pulled him tight into her side. "I presume you are here about Harry?"

Dumbledore just blinked, a sight many would have killed to see. After all, the great Albus Dumbledore wasn't shocked to silence every day.

* * *

After much explanations, and after Jonathan Armstrong came home, and the explanations repeated, the couple agreed to let Harry attend Hogwarts, on the condition that they would be able to pull him out at any time.

Of course, Dumbledore left out the fact that Harry was seen as the Saviour of the wizarding world, and that Voldemort was possibly still alive, and any mention of Voldemort at all.


End file.
